WMUR Story Touts Benefits of State Owned Cannon Mountain

"Hi. I'm a New Hampshire resident and I'd like a 25 percent discount on my season pass, please."

Try that at any ski area in the Granite State and you'll be laughed out of the season pass office. Except at New Hampshire's state owned and operated Cannon Mountain, where by law state residents get 25 percent off their season pass as long as they order it by Dec. 14.

This and other benefits of continued state control of Cannon were mentioned a WMUR story by Paula Tracy. You can read the full story by clicking here.

"If you are a New Hampshire resident, you own a ski area, and a pretty nice one. New Hampshire is cool that way," the story begins. 

We couldn't have said it better.

Despite 'Avalanche' of Opposition, Lease Talk Resurfaces in Concord

Although there is no Cannon Mountain lease bill before the Legislature -- and an "avalanche" of opposition helped kill the lease bill last year -- there's still lease talk going on in Concord.

In this Union-Leader story from today, which noted the state treasurer's common sense recommendation that the state use Cannon revenue to pay down the Cannon Mountain Capital Improvement Fund's accumulated deficit of $372,000, state Sen. Jeb Bradley discussed leasing.

Bradley said that while he does not plan to file a lease bill, he believes that the state should consider whether it should remain in the ski business. Significantly, the senator told the newspaper that he has backed off from leasing in the face of "strident opposition" both in Concord and the Franconia region. "I was climbing uphill with an avalanche coming down at me," he told the newspaper.

State Treasurer Catherine Provencher told the newspaper that Cannon operates at a profit and that Cannon revenue funds the rest of the state park system. "Our parks fund was intended to be self-supporting, so I have to say Cannon and the Hampton meters pay for an awful lot of our system of parks that we can all enjoy," she told the newspaper.

"The New Hampshire model is that we have a few parks that support the rest of the parks system," state Parks and Recreation Director Phil Bryce told the newspaper. The state is fortunate to have "special places like Franconia Notch State Park, like Hampton Beach ... fantastic places, so they can generate that revenue to support the rest of the parks system."

This year Cannon will send $650,000 to the state park system and another $50,000 to state Fish and Game to help fund rescues.

Cannon Mountain Turns Healthy Profit in 2012-13 Season, Advisory Commission Told

Cannon Mountain reported an estimated operating profit of up to $900,000 during the 2012-13 ski season, mountain General Manager John DeVivo told the Cannon Mountain Advisory Commission last month.

Since fiscal 2008, the mountain has generated an average operating profit of $515,000 annually.

For the 2012-13 season, skier visits were up 25 percent from the prior (and relatively snowless) season and were within 3 percent of Cannon's record season. The mountain's revenue was up 23 percent while expenses were down 1 percent vs. the prior season.

The commission discussed ways to pay down the Cannon Mountain Capital Improvement Fund's accumulated deficit of $372,000. The CMCIF is funded by annual lease payments from Mount Sunapee Ski Area, which the state leased in 1998 in order to fund capital improvements at Cannon. The annual payments from Mount Sunapee have totaled $372,000 less than what the $6 million revolving CMCIF has spent in bond issuances since 1999.

State Treasurer Catherine Provencher, state Sen. Jeb Bradley and State Parks & Recreation Director Phil Bryce pledged to work together to craft legislation that would direct Cannon's annual surplus to paying down the CMCIF debt, supporting the state parks budget and to pay for improvements at Cannon.

Cannon plans $717,000-worth of capital projects this summer, including $400,000 for snowmaking improvments, $167,000 for water and power upgrades and $150,000 to replace the Peabody Express Quad haul rope.

To read the advisory commission meeting minutes and get all the financial nitty gritty, click here.